Who That?

One of the English gaffs I find the most annoying is when on-camera news reporters and advertising announcers refer to people not as persons, but as things. This goof-up is becoming increasingly common, and I can't figure out why people do it.

What I'm talking about is the use of the word that in place of the word who when referring to people. For example, I recently watched a local TV news broadcast about an Orlando cultural event. The reporter editorialized, "Everyone that attended had a great evening."

Say what?

Forget the fact that such editorializing is foolish, unnecessary, and annoying in the extreme. If the reporter simply had to make an observation, the proper way to phrase the comment would have been, "Everyone who attended had a great evening."

Sometime later I was listening to a very serious ad promotion for a hospital system in Wisconsin. The announcer intoned, "XYZ Healthcare is staffed with experienced professionals that really care about your needs."

Oh really?

Are those professionals robots? Or are they human beings? If they're people, they should always be referred to as who rather than that.

People that write for ads and news broadcasts should know better! And so should reporters that speak on camera!